Tigers' latest Justin Verlander update is offering false hope no one should fall for

The only reminder that fans really get that Justin Verlander is still on the Tigers' roster is the occasional glimpse of him in the dugout. He's there cheering on the young guys as they, like Kevin McGonigle, hit their first career walk-off or, like Troy Melton, pitch seven shutout innings.

Some fans might read the broadcast's pans to Verlander as touching, even poetic — the star of one era of Tigers baseball being there, in person, to see the rise of the new ones — but the $13 million Detroit is paying him to make just one start up to this point makes the whole situation far less sentimental.

The last time there was even a glimmer of hope that Verlander would make one last start at Comerica Park was Father's Day, June 21, but he was scratched two days before he could get on the mound with a hamstring injury. He said afterwards, "I've always said I want to play until the wheels fall off. And I don't know, maybe they are falling off." He announced his retirement just a few weeks later.

Tigers fans have little hope that Verlander will make it back for one last ride, but the team hasn't ruled him out completely. Over the weekend, he threw off a mound in what he told AJ Hinch was "almost a bullpen."

Yeah, that's not convincing.

Justin Verlander is still trying to make one last start as a Tiger before his career ends

At this point, any Verlander start would be purely ceremonial, and the Tigers might not even want to put him in a game if they manage to do the impossible and catch up in the Wild Card race by the end of September. If anything, they might give him a courtesy inning in a blowout — but even then, the conditions would have to be perfect.

There are plenty of fans who would still love to see him pitch just one more, one last start at his first major league ballpark to put the bookend on a Hall of Fame career, but if the first sign of life we're seeing is "almost a bullpen" with just 26 games to go, it would be unfair for the team to promise anything.

So the Tigers are sticking with the good old "maybe he will, maybe he won't." It's all they can do at this point, but this latest "update" shouldn't get anyone too excited.

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